


Uprooted

by BlackCrowQueen



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Character Reflections, Comfort, Gap Filler, Gen, Light Angst, character interactions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-27 23:19:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19799827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackCrowQueen/pseuds/BlackCrowQueen
Summary: When the most vulnerable are wounded, how does everyone handle it? (Set between Ch. 13 and Ch. 14)





	Uprooted

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone's initial reactions to Tuuri being bit weren't shown, so I wanted to fill in the blanks myself. I worked on this off-and-on for months, and I'm happy with the result. I hope y'all enjoy it (or get sad, whichever works.)

Mikkel felt the small but firm tug on his shirt and turned around. Lalli’s worried stare said enough. He followed him towards the tank where the non-immune were. Mikkel breathed in slow, the smell of the gorey barbeque they had going on hitting his nose. He braced himself for the worst.

Stepping in, the light of the fires illuminated the room. Tuuri holding her shoulder, bright red blood against her white uniform. The dead troll on the floor. Reynir sitting adjacent to her, still looking shell-shocked. Only a hint of surprise showed on Mikkel’s usually stoic face.

_Stay calm. Remember protocol. Remove threats_ , Mikkel thought. 

“We’ll take care of this,” he said. “Reynir, are you hurt too?” 

“No,” Reynir said, shaking his head.

“Okay. Keep pressure on that wound Tuuri,” he said. She nodded her head almost indiscernably. He bent down and grabbed the troll, dragging it out of the room. It wasn't very heavy to him, but Lalli grabbed the other end anyway to ease it through the doorways. It left a trail of blood on the floor.

“Reynir,” Mikkel called, “Move to the other side of the tank, and don't leave until we tell you to, alright?”

“O-okay,” Reynir said, his voice shaky. He picked up a very on-edge, wide-eyed Kitty, and gave one last concerned glance at Tuuri before skirting around the blood and the hole in the floor. 

Mikkel heaved the troll out of the tank, its body hitting the dirt with a thud. Sigrun and Emil, who had been focusing on weeding out the last of the trolls from the blaze, turned at the sound. Sigrun locked eyes with Mikkel for a moment before he turned back into the tank, with Lalli on his heels. Sigrun felt her heart hit her stomach. 

Emil stared at the troll. “Was that-”

Sigrun cut him off, “Stay here. I'll be back.” Before he could begin to argue she was already running into the tank. He huffed, looked worriedly at the large troll Mikkel had dumped, then turned his gun’s attention to anything that dared to cross the wall of fire surrounding them. 

Sigrun rushed in, causing Lalli to whip his head at her sudden entrance. He stood outside their sleeping quarters, rifle ready. Seeing it was just her though, he looked back at his cousin. Mikkel had made quick work of washing his hands, and was pulling out his medical bag. 

“Take off your coat,” he told Turri in his usual deep, calm voice as he sat next to her, getting out some cleaning gauze. 

Sigrun stood next to Lalli, taking in the scene. A cascade of angry swears filled her head. Her chest felt like ice, and her arm burned in pain more than ever. She wanted to say something, but words like “ _Are you ok?_ ” and “ _I’m sorry_ ” would never cut it. She settled on, “Is it a deep bite?” as Mikkel moved Tuuri’s shirt aside and began cleaning and inspecting the wound. 

“It doesn’t seem more severe than your bite,” Mikkel said. “It missed her neck and large blood vessels.”

“Ah, that’s good…,” Tuuri said, speaking for the first time in a while. 

_An instant death might’ve been better_ , Sigrun thought. “Speaking of, I need to talk to you about that… when you get the chance,” she said. “I’ll leave setting up quarantine to you.” She turned to leave before the guilt bubbling in her chest threatened to spill out.

“Right…” Mikkel said as she left. She spared a glance at Reynir. He sat in the passenger’s seat, scratching Kitty and staring at some random point in space, still in shock. In shock, but fine. She stepped back out into the night, giving the troll that lay near the door a solid kick in the head.

Emil strode up to her as she armed her rifle again. “What _happened_?” he said, his face mixed with annoyance and concern. 

“Tuuri got bit,” Sigrun muttered, glaring at the ground. 

Emil’s eyes grew wide. “What!?” He tried to go to the tank, but Sigrun grabbed his arm.

“She’s not bleeding to death. You can see her later,” she snapped. “I need you to help me clear out the last of these _jævler_ so we don’t have any more casualties.”

They had a harsh staring contest for a few seconds before Emil yanked his arm from her grip. “Fine,” he spat. He stomped off to the far end of the fiery enclosure, shooting at a troll a couple meters away that was trying to drag the bottom half of its flaming body away from them.

The occasional pops of gunfire echoed in the tank as Mikkel stitched up Tuuri. The painkillers he had given her were starting to kick in. She watched Lalli during the whole thing. His expression slowly shifted from his initial shock, to worry, and now to despondent. She put on a small smile. “Hey,” she said to him. “Thanks for taking care of that troll.”

“…Mm-hm.”

Another pause. Another poke in Tuuri’s skin.

“Are you going to tell Onni?” Lalli said. 

Tuuri sighed. “…Yes, I will. Tomorrow. I’ll let everyone know.”

“…He helped us, I think. He knew somehow, and sent a firebird. It took out most of them.”

“Oh, really? Well, that’s good at least.”

Mikkel finished his last stitch. “There. I tried to make them better than Sigrun’s, but they’re still fairly bad.”

“Thank you,” Tuuri said, checking them over. 

He started wrapping her with gauze and bandages. “We’ll have to make sure it stays clean. Try not to move that shoulder too much.” He pointed at her breathing mask, which she still wore. “You’ll need to wear this at all times when you’re not in your quarantine room, which we’ll probably make the radio room.”

“Okay,” she mumbled.

“Don’t be in low spirits. As far as we know, you’re fine right now. We’re just acting under precaution.”

She sat up a bit. “Right… of course.”

Mikkel picked up his medical bag. “I’ll start cleaning up in here if the others have it under control.”

As he left, Tuuri said to Lalli, “It’ll be… fine. He said not to worry.”

“…Sure,” he said, his face disagreeing. He followed Mikkel outside. Tuuri sighed again, and peeked out from the door. She could see Reynir from across the rooms. Kitty was still tense, tucked in his lap. 

He perked up in his chair. “H-hey. How are you?”

“I’m… alright,” she said. “Mikkel fixed me up pretty well.”

He looked to the floor. “I’m so sorry…”

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault…”

“I guess. I just feel like I could’ve done something…,” he said, looking out the windshield. “I tried asking your brother if he could help us, but I don't know if he heard me.”

“Oh, he did! Lalli told me he did some sort of fire magic, I guess?”

“It worked then,” he said with a small sigh of relief. Tuuri… still got bit, but at least they didn't all die tonight.

Tuuri glanced down at the ground. “I'm sorry about what I said before… about you not being a mage.”

“Oh, it's- it's okay, really! I'm still like, really new at this,” he said, grimacing a little.

Looking outside through the windshield where she sat, Tuuri couldn't see much. Just fire, smoke, and darkness. “Too bad you didn't find out about it sooner.”

“…Yeah.”

~

Mikkel approached Sigrun, who stared pensively into the fire. “I’ve finished patching up Tuuri. Do you need any help?”

“Sure. Help us clear these few trolls out of the way so we can finally make camp,” she said. “Looks like we scared them all off or killed them, but we’ll leave this fire burning through the night. It’ll be a good deterrent.”

Emil joined them. “How is she?” he said to Mikkel. He glanced at Lalli, who stared at the burning carcasses, in his own headspace.

“She got bit in the shoulder. I've given her some medication for pain, and stitched and bandaged the wound,” Mikkel explained. “I've moved Reynir to the other side of the tank. We'll have to start quarantine procedures as soon as possible.”

Emil looked dazed. “How did that troll even get _in_ there?”

“Oh, right, you haven't been inside yet. It tore through the underside. There's a decently sized hole in the floor.”

“ _What?_ ” Finally sick of being out of the loop, Emil made a beeline for the tank. 

Sigrun opened her mouth to speak, but Mikkel held his hand out. "Let him be. If he doesn't satisfy his curiosity he'll complain the whole time."

Tuuri’s head shot up as Emil barged into the room. For a second he stood there, slack jawed. 

“Oh my god," he said, staring at the mess.

Tuuri nodded with a flat, forced smile. “Yeah…” 

"How are we supposed to _sleep_ with that? It's gonna be so cold and- and unsafe!" He was now shocked that nothing had come crawling into their tank before now. Memories of the giant tearing through the train popped into his head.

She began to shrug, but winced from moving her shoulder. "I don't know. I guess we can use a tarp to make a temporary covering for it…" She stared at the mass of wires and metal in the hole, and her mind started spinning at the thought of having to fix it.

Seeing her in pain, he sighed and sat down next to her. "I… heard. I'm sorry."

"Thanks…" she mumbled.

"…I don't think Lalli is taking it very well."

"He usually doesn't… with these kind of things. I can maybe try talking to him again later though… after things settle down."

"Hmm…" Emil crossed his arms. "I can't imagine you're taking it very well either."

"Well, I'm-"

Sigrun’s voice bounced through the tank. "Emil!! Get your _ræva_ back out here, we're not done yet!"

He growled and shouted, "Okay!! Jeez…" They gave each other apologetic glances as he left the room. Reynir, sitting across the way, watched him leave, and they made eye contact. Emil shot him a look as sharp as daggers, and then he was gone. Reynir sighed through his nose and sank down into the chair.

Tuuri sat alone again in the room, still sitting on Emil’s bunk and holding her bloodstained coat. She honestly wasn't sure how well she was taking it. 

~

Mikkel, Emil, and Sigrun moved the few trolls that had managed to get past their perimeter into the fires, while Lalli did one last outer sweep. Emil could see the worry still plastered on Lalli’s face. But another thing also kept bothering Emil.

As Emil and Mikkel hauled a troll into the fire, Emil glanced around before talking in a low voice. “So are we just gonna ignore that giant _fire_ that came out of nowhere or what?”

Mikkel paused. He hadn't forgotten it at all. One would have to have brain damage to forget something like that. There had just been more obvious, pressing matters to attend to. Though he found it ironic that they had just had a discussion about the supernatural not a few hours ago.

"…If I recall correctly, it came out of your flamethrower," Mikkel said.

Emil blinked wildly. "I _know_ but… _I didn't do it_ ," he whispered, jaw clenched. Not only was that… _thing_ unaccounted for, but he was still racking his brain if he had set up explosives outside their perimeter. He could've sworn he didn’t…

"Perhaps something else did it. A gust of wind or a burst of fuel," Mikkel offered.

_A burst of fuel doesn't speak Finnish though_ , Emil thought. 

Mikkel walked away, leaving Emil to scowl at the ground. If he had to be honest with himself, Mikkel was starting to suspect it was neither of those things. He was far from comfortable admitting it however, and he was sure Emil was in the same boat.

After sulking for a second, Emil sighed and looked at Lalli again. He supposed there were bigger things to worry about right now. He went up to the little scout. 

"Hey Lalli," he began. "I, uh, checked on your cousin in there. It seems like she's doing okay… for now. I know that things are going to be hard from here on out, but we're here for you."

Lalli just stood there, still holding his rifle, and looked at Emil. His expression continued to be a mix of worry and sadness, but now with a slightly confused tint. Emil pat Lalli’s shoulder and smiled, hoping that would help get his point across. Lalli let out a tiny sigh and followed Emil back to the tank.

~

By the time they had reset their protective perimeter, cleaned up their sleeping quarters of blood, and covered the hole in the floor, it was getting well into the night. Tuuri and Reynir switched places, the two exchanging a small wave before being separated again. Tuuri made eye contact with the rest of them as Mikkel shut the door, cutting the radio room from the rest of the tank. Lalli, however, leaned against the doorframe, his back mostly turned away. A heavy weight enveloped the room.

Reynir peeked his head out the door, and got a good view of the destruction for the first time. The fire wasn't as tall as before, but was still going strong. His face mask filtered out the smoke and disease in the air. 

"Um, can one of you come with me?" Reynir said to the others. "I want to check something outside."

Sigrun cocked an eyebrow. 

"What is it?" Mikkel replied.

"I left some runes on the ground, and I wanted to see if they worked," Reynir said, fidgeting with his sleeve.

Mikkel looked at him tiredly. "Surely that can wait until morning?"

"Pl-please? It'll just take a second!" 

"What's he want?" Sigrun mumbled. Mikkel translated, and she pursed her lips before taking a step forward. "I'm interested. C'mon," she said, motioning towards the door.

Reynir perked up and lead the way outside with Sigrun right on his heels, gun ready. Mikkel sighed and went along with them, taking Kitty. A few yards away from the tank, just where he'd left them, were the runes. The dirt around them was charred black. Smoldering grossling corpses laid on top and around them. 

Reynir couldn't help the small grin on his face. 

Sigrun knelt down to get a closer look. For the first time in hours, the anger and stress lifted slightly from her face. "Well whaddya know," she said. She stood back up and made eye contact with Reynir. "You weren't a total mistake after all."

Her frown began to return again, but she gave him a solid pat on the arm. "If you've got anymore tricks up your sleeve let me know." And with that she headed back inside.

Reynir looked to Mikkel, who said, "She seems happy to have you around now… and would like to know of any other… drawings you might have." 

Reynir’s heart lifted, hearing such acknowledgment from their captain. "Uh, yeah. I kinda winged this one, but I think I can come up with more."

Mikkel just nodded, and motioned Reynir back inside, not wanting him to be outside long. Once in and the door securely locked, Sigrun waved her team together. 

"I don't trust that they won't come back," she said, arms crossed. "We need to take turns on watch."

Emil sighed, but Sigrun cocked her head. "Listen kid until we get that hole patched up permanently you're not gonna get much sleep anyway." 

Emil frowned but said nothing. Sigrun looked to Tuuri's door. "Tuuri, could you pass that on please."

Tuuri and Lalli had a brief back-and-forth before the former said, "He wants to know why he doesn't just keep watch all night."

Sigrun glanced at Lalli with his consistent bags under his eyes and stressed brow. "It's been a long day," she said. "We all need some rest. I'll take the first watch." 

Once they decided a watch schedule, the guys went to hit the hay. They set their coats and guns nearby, ready to use them at a moments notice. Lalli crawled under one of the bunks and lay there, staring off into space. Reynir went to unroll a bed mat on the floor, but Mikkel stopped him.

"I know you might have reservations, but you might as well take the empty bunk," Mikkel said.

Reynir hesitated, looking at Tuuri's vacant sleeping spot. It didn't feel right at all. "Why don't you take it?" he said. "I'm fine with sleeping on the floor, really."

"I appreciate the thought, but I assure you I can't fit on it." 

Reynir figured that was true, seeing Mikkel’s tall, massive form. He was tall, too, and would have to curl up to fit his legs on it, but at least he was lanky. 

"I'm alright on the floor," Mikkel continued. "The cold hardly bothers me." 

"Okay then…," Reynir said, still sad. He gingerly sat on the bunk. The draft from the hole drifted through his socks. He could sense Emil glaring at him again, but when he looked at him, the Swede spun around and flopped his head on his pillow. 

_Trust me_ , Reynir thought, _I wish this wasn't happening either._

Meanwhile, Sigrun leaned against the door shutting them away from the outside. Kitty sat in the opposite corner, grooming herself. Glancing to the radio room, Sigrun went over and scooped up the kitten. "C'mere," she whispered. 

She tapped on Tuuri’s door with a knuckle. "It's me."

"Oh, hi," Tuuri said, her voice muffled by the barrier.

"Open up, I've got something for you."

Tuuri opened the door a few inches, and met a face full of cat. A small laugh escaped her lips.

"Take her," Sigrun said. "To keep you company."

"Okay, thanks," Tuuri said, and they slipped Kitty through the gap. She met Sigrun’s eyes; they were full of pity and regret. It made her feel guilty somehow, for having to put such a burden on her leader, but she pushed that feeling aside. It certainly wasn't her fault, and she knew everyone else did the best they could.

Besides, she was already starting to get tired of that remorseful look everyone was giving her.

"Well… good night," Sigrun said. 

"'Night…," Tuuri said, closing her door.

Sigrun went back to her spot at the front door. She leaned back against it, and slid down to the floor. For the next couple hours, it was just the radar screen, her burning arm, and silence. 


End file.
